Anna Phillips completed Bachelor of Fine arts at the Tasmanian School of Art in Hobart. She researches Tupperware, plastic bags and shampoo bottles for her Honours year. For her Masters, Phillips developed an organic/synthetic polymer made from used bathwater and shampoo. She went to Hamburg, Germany on self -initiated art research project where she learnt to make shampoo at Schwarzkopf (70 litres) and how to mould plastic into forms. She commenced her Ph.D in 2000.

fit for a king, solidified shampoo and red wine, 150cm long, width variable, 2003

After reading about Jorgen Jorgenson I was immediately struck with his almost pathetic personal struggle to find inner peace and his sense of fairness towards those that he came into contact with. He had a great sense of moral justice and his actions in life reflected those values. He kept ‘popping up’ during important moments in world and Australian colonial history, seemingly in the right place and the right time when important things were happening. However, he became a victim to gambling, and his life ended sadly, destitute and alone in Hobart in the mid 1880’s.
I decided to make Jorgen a royal cape, a cape that would have reflected the man as well as his royal standing. The cape is the colour of blood and spilled red wine, decorated with the images of the sea and playing cards, Jorgenson was a gambler with life, a gamble that he ultimately lost, but not his personal dignity nor his integrity. The polymer substance that I have developed is used to create this fleshy cape containing these properties of pathos and regal character befitting for such a man as Jorgenson.

Anna Phillips 2002